Now, what are you to do when
the Lord answers your prayer, grants your petition? Well, we're
to pray again and give thanks. And that's what Hannah does here
in chapter 2 of 1 Samuel. And this will be our prayers. We begin our worship service
this morning. And Hannah prayed and said, My heart rejoiceth
in the Lord. Mine horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged
over mine enemies, because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none
holy as the Lord, for there is none beside thee, neither is
there any rock like our God. Talk no more, so exceeding proudly. Let not arrogance come out of
your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions
are weighed. The bows of the mighty men are
broken, and they that stumble are girded with strength. They
that were full have hired out themselves for bread, and they
that were hungry ceased. So that the barren hath borne
seven, and she that hath many children is waxed feeble. The
Lord killeth, and maketh alive. He bringeth down to the grave,
and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor, and maketh
rich. He bringeth low, and lifteth
up. He raiseth up the poor out of
the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill. to
set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne
of glory. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and
he hath set the world upon them. He will keep the feet of his
saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness, for by
strength shall no man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall
be broken to pieces, out of heaven shall he thunder upon them. The
Lord shall judge the ends of the earth, he shall give strength
unto his king, and exalt the horn. of his anointing. That's
some prayer, isn't it? You know, in this prayer, remember
last week I told you that Hannah was the first person recorded
in scripture to use the term the Lord of hosts to describe
our God. Well, here she gives a very good
description of the Lord of hosts in this prayer. And this prayer,
I hope you see this as we go through here, is not nearly as
much about Samuel as it is about Christ. The old Jews called Hannah
a prophetess because of this prayer. They saw this prayer
as a prophecy, and it is. And if you want a good commentary
on this prayer, read in the New Testament Mary's prayer in Luke
chapter 1. Well, we know her prayer was
about Christ, wasn't it? Well, there's very many similarities
in those two prayers. So you see, this prayer is a
prophecy of the coming Messiah. And Hannah prayed and said, My
heart rejoiceth in the Lord. You see, right at the beginning,
her heart is not rejoicing in her son Samuel. Now she's thankful
that God gave her a son, but her heart, her heart is rejoicing
in God's son, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Her heart rejoices in
the Lord, who's the giver of every good and perfect gift.
She goes on and she says, my horn is exalted in the Lord. Now this word horn, especially
in the Old Testament, is used as a picture of power. Now, Hannah last week had been
in bitterness of soul. Now she's rejoicing because the
Lord gave her power to have a son. But you'll notice Hannah's not
rejoicing in any power of her own, in anything that she's done.
Her rejoicing is in the Lord. Now that's a good thing for us
to understand, because human beings have no power of our own. None. Physically or spiritually,
we have no power of our own. And we see Hannah's prophecy
here, which is telling us that all of our salvation is in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Our salvation is of His power,
His ability, His doing. And the gospel of Christ has
the power to give life to dead sinners. Our Lord has all power. Not only does he have power to
give life from a dead wound, not only does he have the power
to heal, he has the power to give eternal life to his people. And he does. He does that. My
horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged over mine
enemies. Now, no doubt, this must have
some reference to Penema, who is Hannah's adversary, who put
down Hannah so much. She just berated her so much
that we saw last week, Hannah was just broken. She had to pray
silently. She poured out her heart to the
Lord silently. But now the Lord's blessed her,
given her a son and she sings the praises of the Lord publicly,
aloud for all to hear. She sings his praises at the
top of her lungs. But you know, before we can ever
sing the praises of our God. Our mouth has to be stopped.
Look in Romans chapter 3. The Lord's got to stop our mouths
before he'll ever open our mouth to sing the praises of our Lord.
In Romans 3 verse 9. Now we know that what things
soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become
guilty before God. God in mercy shows us the law,
shows us the spirituality of the law to stop our mouths. And our mouths have to be stopped
because by nature all we talk about is ourselves. And that
mouth that's constantly talking about ourselves has got to be
stopped. And once our mouth is stopped, once we realize we don't
have anything to say, then the Lord opens our mouth. You know,
Moses, the great man Moses, thought he had a lot to say. The Lord
put him on the backside of a mountain for 40 years till he said, I
forgot how to talk. I've been out here a sheep all
this time. I forgot how to talk. Now the Lord can use you. Now
the Lord can open your mouth to sing the praises of Christ.
And look at Psalm 45. That's exactly what God does
for his people. That's what David says here in
Psalm 45. In verse 1, my heart is indicting
a good matter. I speak of things which I have
made touching the king. My tongue is the pen of a ready
writer. My tongue, my mouth has been
opened, my tongue is the pen of a ready writer to sing the
praises of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what the rest of that
psalm, David does in the rest of that psalm, sing the praises
of Christ the King. And that's what Hannah's saying
here. The next phrase she says is, because I rejoice in thy
salvation. Now that makes it clear, she's
not talking about She's talking about the Messiah. She's talking
about the Messiah who's going to come and bring salvation to
his people. And we'll see that as we go through
here, how clearly she's talking about the Messiah. Now, verse
two, she says, there is none holy as the Lord. The hand is
going to begin to tell some of the glories of God. Where is
she to begin? Well, she has to begin with holiness,
doesn't she? That's the chief attribute, the
chief glory of God. is His holiness. And the Lord
Jesus Christ is the holiness of God personified. And Christ, not only is He the
holiness of God, He makes a sinful people holy. He does that. We are the righteousness of God
in Him. Now that's only in Christ, through
His righteousness imputed. And you hear of lots of other
idols. Men have idols they make up from, I mean, Millions of
them. But none of them, not one of
them, is essentially holy. Only God. Only the Lord of hosts. There is none holy as the Lord.
There is none beside Thee. Now, there's going to be other
Samuels. There's going to be other miracle babies. But there's
just one Lord. One Jehovah. One God. Look over
in Isaiah chapter 40. Hannah the prophetess has the
same message as Isaiah the prophet. In Isaiah 40, verse 18, there's
none beside thee. To whom then will you liken God?
Or what likeness will you compare unto him? Can't be done. Look
over in verse 25. To whom then will you liken me?
Or shall I be equal, saith the Holy One? Notice that's His name,
the Holy One. There's none holy as our God.
There's none besides Thee. There are many other idols, but
none of them are worthy to be compared with the Lord of hosts.
They can't be compared to His character or to His works. There's
none besides Thee. Neither, Hannah says, is there
any rock like our God. Now, the word rock she uses here
is for deity. There is no God. like our God. There's just one God. There's
only one true and living God. And the rest of them are idols.
They're just figments of men's imaginations. But what did God
say? There's no God beside me. A just God and a Savior. There's none beside me. There's
no God like our God. And Paul said that rock which
followed Israel through the wilderness, that rock was Christ. That rock
was Christ, and this rock that Hannah is talking about is Christ.
Peter, quoting Isaiah, said, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief
cornerstone, elect and precious. And he that believeth on him,
on that rock, shall not be confounded. He won't be found guilty, because
Christ is the rock of our strength. He's the firm rock. for the foundation
of our faith. All of our faith is founded on
Him. And that foundation will never
fail. Christ is the rock of refuge. He's the place of safety from
the overflowing scourge of God's wrath. Every other place of safety,
every other place that men have put their trust is going to be
swept away by the overflowing scourge of God's wrath except
one. The rock Christ Jesus. So hide
in Him. Look at Psalm 62. That's what
David says. Hide in Him. Psalm 62, verse 6. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense, so I shall
not be moved. In God is my salvation and my
glory, the rock of my strength. And my refuge is in God. Trust
in Him at all times, ye people. Pour out your heart before Him.
God is a refuge for us. Pour out your heart before Him.
Put all of your trust in Him. Hide in Him. There is no rock
like our God. Verse 3, Hannah goes on. She
says, Talk no more, so exceeding proudly. Let not arrogance come
out of your mouth. For the Lord is a God of knowledge,
and by Him actions are weighed. Don't talk so proudly about yourself. That's why our mouth has to be
stopped. Because men think much too highly of themselves and
too lowly of God. And scripture says, God resisteth
the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. So don't talk so
proudly because God is a God of knowledge. God knows our hearts. We may be able to fool other
men, you know, dress up in our Sunday best and fool other men
and hide, you know, the wickedness of our hearts from them. And
they might be impressed, but not God. God looks on the heart. And God is not going to be impressed
with us. I don't care how impressed other
men are with us. God's not going to be impressed.
God's only impressed with his son and those in his son. But
now here's the comfort for God's people. God is the God of knowledge. He knows men's hearts. And that includes the new heart
that He's given you. There are times that men, you
know, I said we might try to impress men. There are times
men are not impressed with us. There are times men might look
at us and say, well, he doesn't know the Lord. What's he doing?
Well, God's the judge. He is the God of knowledge. And
what was Peter's plea? When Peter found himself in that
situation, men looked at Peter and said, well, he can't be saved. Peter's plea was, you're a God
of knowledge. Lord, you know all things. You
know I love you. You know what's in that new heart
that you've given me. And the comfort is our God is
a God of knowledge. He knows you. He knows you. He's always known
you and he'll never forget you. Paul said in 2 Timothy 2, the
foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth
them that are his. He's a God of knowledge. He knows
his people. Well, verse 4, Hannah goes on.
She says, the bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that
stumbled are girded with strength. Now, right at this very moment,
in pulpits all across this country, men are waging war on God. They've
got their bows, they've got their weapons, they've got their, you
know, logic that they use in the, you know, impressive study
of Greek and Hebrew and all these things that they have, you know,
that make men think they have strength. God's going to break
that just like He'd break a toothpick. He's going to break all of that,
their weapons and His enemies. He's going to break them in pieces.
But those who are weak, those who stumble, those who can do
absolutely nothing for themselves, except throw themselves on the
mercy of God, are going to be girded with strength because
Christ did everything for them. Christ the Rock did everything
for them. And if you look over to Isaiah
35, we have a message to preach to the weak. Our message is not just to those
who are strong. Our message, the message of the
gospel, is to the weak. And that message is Christ. Look
in Isaiah 35, verse 3. Strengthen ye the weak hands,
and confirm the feeble knees. Well, how are you going to do
that? How are you going to strengthen the weak? Say to them that are of
a fearful heart, Be strong, and fear not. Behold, your God will
come with vengeance, even God with a recompense. He will come
and save you. That's our message to the weak.
God will come in the person of His Son and save you. So that
you're girded with strength. Now, verse 5, Hannah says, they
that were full have hired out themselves for bread, and they
that were hungry ceased. Now, they who were full, full
of their own goodness, full of their own righteousness, just
full of themselves, thinking everything that they had was
of their own doing, full of themselves, they're going to be left with
nothing. What they're going to find is that they've hired themselves
out as indentured servants to wicked masters for that which
is not bread. And this is a prophecy concerning
Israel. Isn't that exactly what happened
to the nation Israel after they rejected the Messiah? They've
been full for centuries. They had the prophets. They had
the ceremonies. They had the priesthood. They
had the tabernacle. They had the temple. They had
the sacrifices. They had it all. They were full.
And now they're empty. because they rejected the Messiah. And the Gentiles, who were empty
for all those years, just left out of the covenants, aliens
from the covenants of promise, are full because God sent his
gospel to them. But now here's the blessing to
us. Our Lord said, blessed are they which hunger and thirst,
those who are empty, blessed are they which hunger and thirst
after righteousness, for they shall be filled. They're going
to be filled with all the fullness of God. They'll be filled with
Christ. That's who they'll be filled
with. Christ in you, the hope of glory. You'll be filled with
the blood of Christ that cleanses us from all sin. You'll be filled
with the righteousness of Christ that makes us accepted by the
Father. Those who've been empty are going
to be filled. She goes on, she said they'll
be filled. So that the barren hath born seven. And she that
hath many children is waxed feeble. Now Hannah bore five children
after Samuel, a total of six. And she's this number seven for
many. If you look over in verse 21,
you'll see that Hannah had five other children. She had three
sons and two daughters after she had Samuel. And the legend
has it in Israel is that after Samuel was born, for every child
that Hannah bore, Peninnah buried two. That's the legend. I don't
know if it's true or not, but I hope not. But if it is, no
one can say that God is unjust if Hannah, every time she bore
one, Hannah buried two. No one can say God's unjust if
that's so, can we? Our Lord said, who so shall offend
one of these little ones which believe in me? It were better
for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he
were drowned in the depth of the sea. Then offend one of these,
my little ones. And Peninnah did that. But here's
the blessing. Those of us who are barren of
any good. Does that describe you and me?
Are we barren? Had the Lord showed us we're
barren of any good. Absolutely empty of any good. Filled with wickedness and vile,
wretched sins. Is that us? Is that you and me?
Barren of any good? Well, those are the people who
are made the righteousness of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who are barren have borne
many. They're filled with the fullness
of God. And they've ceased, Hannah says.
Now, you haven't ceased from all your works, have you? You've
ceased from all of your works of righteousness and trying to
obtain a righteousness from God. Quit those works, but you're
hard at work in the master's service, wherever it is that
he puts you. So verse 6, Hannah says, the Lord killeth and maketh
alive. He bringeth down to the grave
and bringeth up. Now we know, Hannah knew this,
only the Lord could give Samuel life from Hannah's dead womb. Because all natural life comes
from the Lord. All of it does. Matthew Henry
said this, he says, the Lord presides over births and funerals. Wherever there's a birth and
wherever there's a burial, it's of the Lord. He's the one providing. The moment of our birth and the
moment of our death, that we leave this earth, is of the Lord. Life is from Him. And that's
why we pray to the Lord for healing. Life is from Him. But now spiritually,
here's the blessing. Every one of us, every son of
Adam, every one of these precious babies that are born, that life
is from God. But that baby is born dead. spiritually
dead. Our problem is we just don't
know it. We think we have spiritual life because we have physical
life. And only the Lord can make you realize that spiritually
you're dead. He's the one who killeth. Look
in Romans chapter 7 and I'll show you how. He's the one who
killeth. It's not something we've figured out on our own. Something
somebody told us. This is something that the Lord
teaches. In Romans 7 verse 9. Paul says, for I was alive without
the law once. Well, if anybody was alive, if
anybody kept the law, it was Saul of Tarsus, wasn't it? He
says, I was alive without the law once. But when the commandment
came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was
ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking
occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Now, that sin that slew him He
didn't just dive in. He realized he had always been
dead. He realized he had been born
dead in trespasses and sins. So God killed him with the law. God brings man to the brink of
hell. And we're on the brink of that
precipice. We know God will be just in sending us there. That's just exactly what we deserve.
And at that moment, when he's brought us to the brink of the
pit, God says, deliver him. from going down into the pit.
I've found a ransom. I've provided a ransom. I've
sent the ransom. The Lord Jesus Christ, he is
the life of the believer. That's what Paul said in 1 Corinthians
15, for as an Adam, I'll die. Even so in Christ shall he be
made alive. He is our life. He killeth and
he maketh alive. Verse 7, Hannah says, the Lord
maketh poor. and maketh rich. He bringeth
low, and he lifteth up." Now certainly we know that's true
of material riches and poverty. It was true when Hannah was barren
and when she had children. The Lord made her poor and the
Lord made her rich. The Lord made her barren and
the Lord made her fruitful. No question about it. Whatever
material things it is that we have, God gave them. We didn't get them from our own
industry and things that we do. God's in control. He gives to
each one as he would. But now spiritually, this is
the blessing, this is what this is teaching. All men are dead
in Adam. We've been brought to spiritual
bankruptcy in Adam. When Adam fell, everyone in him
lost everything. We became spiritually bankrupt.
So in that sense, we could say Adam made us poor, couldn't we?
But now God's in control. Couldn't the Lord have prevented
Adam from falling if he wanted to? God's offering. He can do
whatever he wills. He could have prevented Adam
from falling, but he didn't. He didn't so that when Adam fell,
his son could get all the glory in redeeming a people from Adam's
fallen race. So we see God's the first cause
of everything, isn't he? God's the one who allowed us
to become spiritually bankrupt, and he allowed it for this reason,
so that his people, believers, could be made rich. through substitution. Now, we may have had something
in Adam, but I'm telling you, we are unspeakably rich in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Rich as we could never lose.
And it's through substitution. 2 Corinthians 8, verse 9. For you know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ. If you know him, you know this,
Paul says, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes, he
became poor. that ye through his poverty might
be made rich, made rich through substitution. Now verse 8, he
raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar
from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them
inherit the throne of glory, for the pillars of the earth
are the Lord's, and he hath set the world upon them. Now that's
true about rulers of this life, isn't it? Joseph and Daniel could
tell you the story of being in the dust. of being in the prison
and being raised to the throne, couldn't he? So could Pharaoh. God told Pharaoh, I raised you
up. You didn't raise yourself up.
I raised you up, good or bad. The rulers of this earth are
in power because God put them there. He raised them up. And
yet everybody wants to be the ruler. I mean, everybody does.
I mean, I'm thoroughly convinced this country would be better
off if I was just the benevolent dictator. I'm confident of it.
But nobody wants to be the beggar, do they? Nobody wants to be the
beggar because we know human nature won't be kind to a beggar. Maybe it's the holiday season.
But what about springtime? What about tax time? I've got
a tax bill to pay. I'm going to pretend I didn't
see him. Nobody wants to be the beggar because men will ignore
beggars. But the Lord lifts up the poor. He lifts up the mercy beggar.
We should always remember where we were when God found us. We
were in the dust. We were on the dunghill. Now,
the dunghill is not just a garbage pile. The dunghill is where you
dispose of human and animal waste. It's a vile, polluted place. And he uses the term dunghill
to describe where God found us because sin is not just an ugly
thing. See, it's not just something that smells bad that you wish
you could turn your head from. Sin is a pollution that's polluted
our souls. Yet God reaches down into that
dunghill and lifts his people off the dunghill. He washes them
in the blood of his Son, cleanses them from that pollution, clothes
them in the righteousness of his Son and sets them at his
table. among the princes of God, makes
us sons and daughters of God. And God doesn't just take you
off the dunghill and set you there. And you're kind of out
of place among them because, you know, I'm from the dunghill.
These people are princes. No, he makes you a prince. He
makes you a princess. He makes you sons and daughters
of God. Full-fledged children who have
an inheritance. She says here to make them inherit
the throne of glory. You're full-fledged children
by adoption and by the new birth. And you're given a full inheritance
of a child. Now, you think God can't do that
for you? You think you're too far down, buried in the dunghill?
God can't do that for you? God, the Lord of hosts, is the
Creator. He set this earth on its pillars
and it stayed there forever. We've seen pictures of this planet
from outer space. Where are the pillars? They're
not there, are they? God hung this planet in air,
just suspended it in air. Well, where's the pillars? His
power. He upholds all things by the
word of His power. I reckon He can save you, if
He will. He's got the power. He can save you and He can keep
you and present you before the throne of His Father, thoughtless,
by His power. Well, verse 9, she says, he'll
keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent
in darkness, for by strength shall no man prevail. The Lord
will keep his people from falling. He'll not suffer thy foot to
be moved. He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Now, none of
us have the power to keep ourselves. We know that. But we're kept
by the power of God, through faith unto salvation, ready to
be revealed at the last time. He will keep our feet. founded
upon the rock. There's no rock like our God. He'll keep our feet founded upon
the rock. In verse 10, the adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to
pieces. Out of heaven shall he thunder upon them. The Lord shall
judge the ends of the earth, and he shall give strength unto
his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed. Now, there are
enemies of the Lord, and one day they're going to be completely
destroyed. broken to pieces. And it's going
to be in horrible judgment. You notice the phrase Hannah
uses here? The Lord shall thunder on them
out of heaven. It's going to be a horrible judgment
that comes upon them, thunder on them. Hannah, the prophetess,
prophesies of the first coming and the second coming of Christ.
And the king that she refers to here, not David. She's looking past David. past
Solomon, past all the kings of Israel to the King of Kings,
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And she uses this word anointed.
Now, this is the first place in scripture that this word anointed
is used referring to a person. Other things have been anointed,
but this is the first time that the word anointed is used referring
to a person. And this word is in other places
in scripture actually translated Messiah. She's the first one
that talks about the Messiah being anointed. The father has
anointed his son king. He is sovereign king. The father
has exalted the name of his son and given him a name which is
above every name, that the name of Jesus every knee should bow
and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. He's king. And scripture says
he must reign. Well, what else would a king
do? He must reign. And my prayer is that God make
it so in our hearts this morning. If it hasn't been true up to
this moment, may God make it true at this moment. Christ is
king in my heart. The Lord made it true for Hannah,
didn't he? Maybe he'll do the same. Mercy and grace for us
this morning. All right. Lord bless you.